Behind Blue Eyes
by ShadowPalace
Summary: The story of what made "the boy with the bread" himself.
1. Charm

**Hello! So, this is my first Hunger Games fic and I'm really excited to write it! I hope you enjoy it!**

**In this story, each chapter will be the story behind a separate trait/quality that Peeta has. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hunger Games.**

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_i. Charm_

As soon as Peeta had the ability to walk and talk, he spent his mornings working with his parents in the bakery. Except, he had been assigned a specific job: to entertain the little children that came into the bakery.

He was quite good at his job - never being afraid to start a conversation, always managing to make five-minute friends. The problem was, he found that he only had the courage to talk to boys. Whenever girls came in he would run into the bathroom or kitchen or he would hide behind the counter for protection from the unknown.

One hot, sunny day, the bakery was booming with business. The kitchen was unbearable between the heat from the fire burning oven and the blistering sun from outside. The bathroom had a endless line that looked about 15 minutes long. And to make things even worse, there were about 3 girls around Peeta's age in the store.

"Go on and talk to them!" His mother demanded, giving him a shove from out from behind the front counter.

"But, mom!" Peeta argued, trying to fight his way back behind the wooden wall. But with one more strong push from his mom, he was exposed to the entire bakery.

He slowly made his way to the clump of girls chattering in the corner of the store. As he grew closer, he could hear their small, sweet voices, but not clear words. Their voices were much too soft for that amount of clarity.

Despite the odd looks he was getting from the girls, he continued to approach – it was the feeling of his mother's eyes burning into his back, urging him to keep walking forward.

"Hi." He said quietly, once he reached the circle that they had made, "I'm Peeta Mellark. What are your names?"

The tallest one of the three stepped forward. You could tell from her posture that she was the most confident between the three of them. She had striking red hair and dark brown eyes. She squinted her eyes at Peeta and stared him up and down, as if to be interrogating him based off looks.

"I'm Aria," the red haired girl finally said, stepping so she was standing completely in front of her two friends, "This is Sage," she pointed to a girl with light blonde hair tied back in a bun, "And lastly, this is Ellen," she gestured towards a girl with very dark hair, and extreme features.

"Hi." Peeta said again, not really sure what else to say.

"Are you excited?" the girl named Sage blurted out. She seemed suddenly ashamed, and stepped back to her previous spot behind her friend.

"For what?" Peeta asked, completely clueless.

"She's talking about the reaping, it's in a week." Aria stated, crossing her arms.

"Oh right, I guess," Peeta said, shrugging, "The opening ceremony is always entertaining."

"Yeah!" Sage said, beaming, "I mean, look at the costumes! I would love to wear some of those gowns!"

The conversation between Sage and Peeta (with a few comments from Aria) continued on how spectacular the games were, while Ellen remained completely silent. It seemed that Peeta was the only one who noticed, because when he slowly exited the conversation, they other two girls continued to chat away.

"What's wrong?" he asked Ellen.

"Nothing." she mumbled, looking down at the hard wood floor.

"Well, something seems wrong," Peeta said, seeing a single tear rolling down her soft, gentle cheek.

"It's just that-t, my sister died last-t year in the games," she said, tears now flowing heavily.

Before Peeta could think, he felt. He felt her pain- he somehow understood it – and before he could think it through, he leaned in and hugged her. Her body was cold and was shivering, but he didn't care. He held on until she stopped crying, which surprisingly didn't take all that long.

"Sorry," she apologized, quietly; "I should know how to control my emotions better by now."

"It's okay," he replied, smiling, "I'm glad to help."

"Ellen," an adult voice called, "Time to go!"

"Okay!" she called to what Peeta assumed was her mom, and then she turned back to him, "Thanks," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, "Bye!"

***

From there on forth (until he started school), whenever little girls game in the bakery he was no longer scared. He would just run up and hug them, and it seemed to work just like magic.

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**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Please review! **


	2. Protective

**Hi! Thank you so much for all the great feedback for last chapter, it means a lot! So, I'm back for my second chapter, I hope that you enjoy this chapter as much or more than the last one! **

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_ii. Protective_

Peeta always had a big heart, and everyone at school knew it. That's why nobody was all that shocked when he protected Opal Murphy from bullies one day at school.

It was difficult being a twelve year old in district twelve, every child of the district knew that all too well. It was the age that most children began to truly understand the hardship that the Capitol provided them with. They were beginning to fully understand that food was scarce and everything had to be earned by each individual person.

Peeta had to deal with this a little less than some others – as his family owned a bakery, therefore, food wasn't as much of a worry for him as it was for others (that fact was reinforced when he gave Katniss Everdeen a piece of bread, on one cold, rainy evening). Part of him almost felt guilty sometimes that he was more fortunate than others – he knew that he should be happy that he always had _some_ food on the table, but it made him felt bad that while he could always have a burnt piece of bread, others had absolutely nothing.

This is why, looking back on it, he thinks that he chose to go down that path on that specific winter day. The day had begun normal enough. He had his morning classes (most of which were spent daydreaming about a certain black-haired girl). It was at lunchtime, when his day began to take a turn from the usual.

He was about to take a bite of his charred piece of bread, when he heard a wail from across the room. It was a high-pitched scream, and it alerted Peeta's ears immediately. He looked across the room, where he spotted Opal Murphy – a short, dusty brown haired girl - getting lifted off of the ground by the collar by Arthur Holt – a large, muscular boy.

"What was it again that you just asked me?" Arthur mocked, "Was it for a piece of my lunch?"

"P-please, stop!" Opal pleaded, trying to kick Arthur in the thigh, "I didn't know that you would care so much! My family just didn't have enough food to give me lunch today and I'm starving…" Opal's family was having a really hard time – they barely had anything, and none of her family members knew how to hunt or anything that could bring in a good source of food.

"Doesn't matter," he said, looking down on her, "You don't ever ask me for lunch, _poor girl_."

Peeta couldn't stand watching the poor girl struggle any longer. Before he could think everything completely through, he ran up to the two of them and punched Arthur right in the nose. The loud "_smack!" _echoed throughout the room, and all Peeta could do was look down at his bright red, throbbing hand.

"What did you just do, baker boy?" Arthur called out, rubbing his nose with the hand that was previously gripping Opal's white shirt. Arthur was known as the bully of Peeta's class. He had his clan, and they all picked on the kids they thought were 'below' them – generally people who had less money. He never really seemed to get the point that most of the district was _starving_ to death.

"I protected that girl from creeps like you!" Peeta yelled, kicking Arthur right in the knee. He couldn't recall ever being this violent, but it felt right. All Opal ever asked for was a piece of food, and instead of just saying no, he had to hurt her. It just wasn't right in Peeta's book.

"Peeta!" Opal yelled once Arthur began to walk away, "Thank you!" she toppled him into a large hug, and he stumbled backwards as a result.

"Peeta Mellak!" One of his teachers called out, as she scurried into the room, "What just went on here? Did you just _kick_ Arthur Holt?"

"Yes," Peeta said, lowering his face. He couldn't lie; it was just something he was never really able to do. He wasn't used to getting in trouble because adults generally adored him (he figured one of the reasons was because he couldn't lie).

"Peeta, please follow me," the teacher said, scowling. She grabbed him by the wrist, and began to pull him out of the room.

Peeta began to walk to keep up with her, when he remembered something. "Opal?" he asked. She whirled around, "You can have my lunch." Her face illuminated immediately at the prospect of food. So even with the punishment Peeta received, he was still happy that he successfully protected Opal Murphy from the bully, Arthur Holt.

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**I realize that this chapter is short. This one just has a short story with it, sorry! I'll try to make the next one longer! Please review! **


	3. Strong

**Hi! Unlike the ones so far, this is based off of something mentioned in the book. I made up an age for this because I don't recall the book being specific on this. If I'm wrong, please correct me!**

**I hope you enjoy it, and please review!**

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_iii. Strong_

"Peeta!" Peeta whirled around, "Peeta, wait up!" It was one of his friends, Louis, calling after him.

"What?" Peeta asked, standing still. He looked for Louis among the large clump of school kids swarming around him, but didn't have such success until Louis was straight in front of him.

"We're finally old enough to try out for wrestling!" Louis exclaimed, shoving a piece of paper in Peeta's face. Peeta looked down on the paper, it read:

Wrestling Try-Outs

_Age 13 and older_

_Monday! Don't be late._

"I'm assuming you're trying out, then," Peeta said, still staring at the bright blue piece of paper.

"Of course," he said, giving Peeta a sock in the shoulder, "You should too! It'll be a lot of fun!"

"Oh, I don't-" Peeta began, looking down the hallway.

"C'mon Peeta," he said, "You won't regret it. You'll be great at it too, from lifting all that bread."

Peeta considered it. Louis was right, though, he had gotten quite strong from lifting bread in and out of the oven for the past few years. And who knows, maybe it would be fun.

"Sorry," a girl said, bumping into his arm. He looked up. It was none other than Katniss Everdeen, his secret crush for years. She hadn't ever talked to him, really, but where their arms met Peeta felt a slight tingle.

"So," Louis pestered, pulling Peeta from his daydreams, "How about it?"

"Hmm… I guess," Peeta said, "Why not." The truth was, he figured that maybe if he joined the wrestling team, maybe it would catch Katniss' attention. Maybe she'd notice him. Maybe she'd like him. There were a lot of 'maybes' coming from this, and they weren't ones that Peeta planned on missing.

"Exactly," Louis said, nodding his head, "So, try-outs are Monday! Get ready." He then stormed off down the halls, probably looking for another one of their friends to convince.

***

Louis had successfully been able to convince two more of their friends to try out. On Monday the four of them stood in the far right corner of the room. The room was packed with many district 12 schoolboys of various ages.

Every time one more student entered, Peeta continued to think that this wasn't such a good idea. He had not only convinced his parents that this was a good idea, but he also got them into thinking that it was going to be the best thing that ever happened to him. If he didn't make, they would be devastated.

"Competition looks tough," Louis commented, scanning the room.

"Yeah," one of his other friends said, "I doubt I'll make it."

"Attention!" the wrestling couch shouted, "We'd like to begin try-outs. Now. Please form a line from shortest to tallest."

Peeta found himself almost exactly in the middle of the line, while all of his friends were on the shorter side. Maybe Peeta did have a chance, being one of the tallest boys in his class.

The coach had them do various warm-ups and some weightlifting before going into combat with one another.

Peeta won his first match against one of his classmates. It wasn't too hard to win, because the boy was on the weaker side. However, Peeta felt terrible when he had to pin the poor boy to the ground. It just didn't feel quite right.

In his second match, it was against someone who was against two years his senior. It was a close match, but resulted in Peeta loosing. While he was disappointed in himself for not fighting harder, his friends assured him that it was nearly impossible to win against someone who was two years older.

A few minutes later, it was time for his third match.

"The winner of this match will get to be on the time, while the loser won't. Let's have: Peeta Mellark vs. Louis Ballot. Fight!"

Peeta and Louis approached each other on the mat. This wasn't what either of them wanted, at all. They both wanted to be on team, together.

Peeta felt bad to have to punch one of his best friends in the face. At least Louis new the match was a friendly one, right?

After various blows to one another, Peeta finally came out victorious. He knew that he should have felt proud of him making the team, and he knew that his parents sure would be. But he, himself, wasn't as proud. It felt like he had betrayed a friend to get his position on the team.

"Sorry, Louis," Peeta apologized.

"No," Louis said, shaking his head vigorously, "Don't be. You deserve it. Now I can cheer you on, at games. Plus, I can always try out next year."

"You sure?" Peeta asked.

"Positive," he said, giving Peeta a large slap on the back.

Maybe Louis and his parents were right from the beginning. Maybe this would be the best thing that ever happened to him.


End file.
